The Green Ones
by SciFiSiren2
Summary: Vala discovers that downtime at the SGC can be very sweet.  My first story!  Rating: K


**Author's Note: Hello! This is my first Fanfic, GULP! This little thought has been swimming around in my brain and it won't leave me. I wanted to get it down before it evaporated. This is just a sweet, light, and silly piece. I hope everyone likes it. Reviews would be so appreciated! **

Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned in this story, only playing and having fun. Full disclaimer for things mentioned will follow at the end of the story; I don't want to give anything away at the outset.

Rating: K

Word Count: 2,250

Pairings: Daniel/Vala – I love these two and could no longer resist playing around with them. There is some interaction with the rest of the team as well.

The Green Ones

Vala was sitting in her quarters looking through the latest issue of Glamour, but her heart wasn't really in it. She flipped the pages aimlessly not really seeing anything. Things had been slow lately at the SGC and downtime passed; to use an Earth expression, about as fast as watching paint dry. She had to find something to do before she lost her mind and went completely wonko!

Of course, down time was no problem at all for Daniel, he had a myriad of books that he never seemed to tire of reading, and he was currently immersed in cataloging a recent shipment of artifacts from planet PX2-714. Vala loved helping Daniel with artifacts, but there was only so much she could take before her brain felt as though it would slowly ooze out her ear. She knew better than to bother Daniel until he had at least five uninterrupted hours with his new shipment of goodies. They had come to an understanding that if she gave him his uninterrupted time, he would let her pester him all she wanted to later. Vala was happy to do so as things had been going so well between them lately, and they seemed to share a new closeness these past few months. She had a couple hours left before Operation Pester Daniel could commence. In the meantime what to do, what to do?

Vala decided she needed a little sugar and headed for the vending machine.

Teal'c had the same idea and was reaching in for his candy bar. "ValaMalDoran are you well?" Teal'c asked as he inclined his head towards her.

"Yes, Muscles thanks for asking. I'm just bored and needed a little sugar for a pick me up." She smiled as she punched the button for M&M's, a major favorite of hers. She reached for the bag and had an idea for some fun. "Hey! What's your favorite color of M&M's Teal'c?"

The Jaffa raised his eyebrow and said, "I have not thought about that ValaMalDoran. I enjoy the chocolate, I do not care what color it is."

Vala sighed and rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, but if you had to pick a favorite color what would it be? I have decided to take an opinion poll on the base and you are my first subject." Vala twirled her right pig tail and gave him her best you know you love me smile, "Please Muscles! It'll be fun!"

Teal'c once again inclined his head saying, "I am honored to be your first subject ValaMalDoran. I would have to say my favorite color is red, the color of a warrior. What is your favorite color ValaMalDoran?"

She smiled again, a mischievous glint in her grey eyes, "That's easy Muscles! I favor the green ones because there the sexiest!" Teal'c gave her a rare smile and said, "Indeed!" Vala happily skipped off to ask her other team mates about their favorite color of M&M, she decided she would ask Sam next.

Vala happily bounded into Sam's office and plopped down in the chair across from her desk. "Hey Samantha!"

Sam couldn't help but smile as she looked up and saw Vala's happy grin. "Hey Vala! What's up?"

Vala crinkled the bag of candy in front of Sam and said, "Oh nothing, just conducting an opinion poll to alleviate boredom. What's your favorite color of M&M?"

Sam laughed; leave it to Vala to get silly when bored. Sam answered quickly, "I love the orange ones! When I was a little girl I went through a phase where I was into all things orange. You know orange juice, orange soda, orange sheets, orange T-shirts, orange toys. I loved that color! Now I can't stand it, but the candy reminds me of that silly little stage I went through, and whenever I eat an orange M&M it makes me smile. I haven't thought of that in a long time Vala. That was fun, thanks for asking."

Vala grabbed an orange M&M out of the bag, handed it to Sam and they both laughed. More giggles ensued when Vala again shared the reason for her favorite color, and the two friends happily chatted for a while.

Daniel was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of laughter coming down the corridor and he knew that Vala was in Sam's office. He smiled picturing the two women in animated conversation, and was glad that Vala was having fun. He stood and stretched muscles that had not moved in quite some time, pausing to check the clock. He couldn't believe it was past two thirty in the afternoon. He had started working at eight this morning and had barely noticed the passing of time, so intent was he on the artifacts. His spine popped loudly as he continued to stretch and he was suddenly aware how quiet and lonely his office was. He had been working six and a half hours straight and Vala hadn't bothered him once. He knew she would give him their agreed upon five uninterrupted hours for new artifacts time, but he had expected she would come bounding in at one o'clock on the dot, telling him it was time for lunch. She must be having a good time! He realized quite suddenly that he missed having her in his office. The thought hit him like a zat blast, he missed Vala! He missed her! In fact if he was honest with himself he and Vala's dynamic had been subtly changing for a while now. He was slowly seeing more to Vala than the purely fun loving; no strings attached veneer she put on. She had a vulnerability that he also recognized in himself. Sure they still argued, bickered, and flirted but there was more to it now, something deeper was there. His eyes focused on the glass jar sitting on the corner of his desk. Vala had given it to him for a gift and it was in the shape of a pyramid. She kept it filled with M&M's, green ones to be more precise, and would feed them to him sometimes when he tended to get buried and too intense in his archaeological world to remember to eat properly, if at all. He couldn't help but grin when he remembered Vala telling him why the green ones were her favorite. There had been so many times she made him laugh, challenged him, and brought out the best in him. For the first time in a long time he was having fun again and that was because of Vala. He didn't want her to stay out of his office; he didn't want her out of his life. He knew what he had to do and wondered why it had taken him so long to figure it out. He logged onto the internet and set about his plan.

Vala had a great time with her opinion poll and loved hearing everyone's favorite M&M color and the stories that went along with them. Cam's favorite was blue because it reminded him of the sky and flying, and when he ate M&M's he always tossed them high in the air and caught them in his mouth. Jack's favorite was yellow because it reminded him of the song Mellow Yellow; he loved that song, and more recently he loved them because they made him think of the color of Sam's hair. This last bit being told to Vala under the strictest of secrecy, although Jack winked at her after he said it and Vala smiled knowingly.

General Landry said his favorite were the brown ones because they were under appreciated. Vala had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at his not so subtle hint, she just gave him a quick hug and said, "Don't you worry, everyone secretly loves the brown ones General." He was smiling and shaking his head as she left his office.

Vala's opinion poll had quite nicely finished off the day and she completely lost track of time. She happily fell into bed in her quarters pondering everyone's stories. She was so happy to have good friends. She briefly wondered what Daniel had done with the rest of his day but figured he spent the entire time happily buried in the world of the Ancients. She hoped that he remembered to eat and take care of himself. She sighed wondering if the two of them would ever get anywhere beyond friendship, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next week at the SGC flew by with missions on a new planet P4 something or other, (why they couldn't come up with more imaginative names Vala would never know) and she barely had time to think, she was on the go so much. When some down time finally came their way again everyone was happy to have it. Vala was in her quarters trying out a new hairstyle when she heard Daniel call her name. She opened her door to see him standing there with a grin on his face. This was worth investigating.

"Hey Vala would you mind coming into my office for a minute?" asked Daniel. She was suddenly speechless; he _wanted_ her to come to his office, he was _asking _her to come to his office?

"Uh, sure Daniel, is everything ok?" He smiled and linked his arm through hers. Now she was really worried, were they in an alternate reality here?

"Everything's fine Vala, absolutely great. I have something I want to show you." They arrived at his office and Daniel ushered her in and shut the door. She saw that his desk, usually buried under papers, artifacts, and various other minutiae was entirely clear, except for the pyramid jar of green M&M's she had given him. In front of the jar were four small glass bowls likewise filled with green M&M's.

"What is all this Daniel?"

"You're going to like it Vala I promise. I understand that you had an opinion poll a couple of weeks back about everyone's favorite color of M&M's and you never asked me what my favorite was. I know I was in my own little world then, and when I finally came out of it I realized I missed the fact that you weren't with me."

At that moment you could have knocked Vala over with a feather, she was completely unprepared for his words. "Daniel, I…."

"Vala, please, just let me get this all out before I lose my nerve. I realize that when I'm with you I'm having fun, _even_ when you're driving me crazy. I love your strength and spirit and I love that you challenge me. You bring out the best in me and I want you in my life. Now, sweetheart, I want you to go to the bowls of M&M's and starting with the first bowl, take out one candy for each bowl and place them on the desk. Then tell me what you see.

Daniel wiped away the tears of happiness that had fallen onto her cheeks, and nudged her closer to the desk. She took out the first M&M from the first bowl and set it out; noticing that the M&M had a single word on it. She did the same thing with the second, third and fourth. There in front of her, spelled out in M&M's were the words, "I love you Vala." He took her hands in his and said, "I'm sorry it took me so long to say it, but I do love you Vala, I have for a long time now.

Vala smiled the brightest smile Daniel had ever seen and said, "I love you too My Daniel." He pulled her in for a tender kiss and when they stood apart he said "In case you were wondering my favorite are the green ones too, because _you're sexy!_"

As Vala's eyes met Daniel's, both of them smiled, and she knew she had a whole new reason to love green M&M's.

The End

Full Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG1. If I did we would still be getting new episodes. Since we aren't this just keeps my imagination happy, no infringement intended. I also do not own, and have not been endorsed by M&M's. This is a good thing, otherwise I would eat way too many of them! The song "Mellow Yellow' is written and performed by Donovan. There, all bases have now been covered!

**Thank you for reading my first Fanfic story, I had so much fun with this! I have been so inspired by many of your stories, and have really enjoyed reading them. I hope you all enjoyed this little ditty as much as I enjoyed writing it. **


End file.
